Transcripts For ALJAZAM America Tonight 20140826

That this is the best country in the world. And everybody should receive a decent education. And it shouldnt matter because of your social background, your economic background. It is not supposed to matter. And the war in syria close to 200,000 civilians killed. Tonight, an exclusive look at the fight for rebel held city of aleppo. Well show you how a group of volunteers is trying to save the civilians caught from the cross hairs. Then shake rattle and roll. A 6. 2 magnitude earthquake rocks Northern California. I thought the roof was going to chance because ive never had anything shake so much in my life. An Early Warning system, how much warning did residents get odrop and cover . Good evening, thank you for joining us. Im sheila macvicar. Joie chen has the night off. An overflow crowd, attended the Emotional Funeral Service for Michael Brown this morning. A White Ferguson Police Officer shot and killed brown two weeks ago. Lori jane gliha takes us inside the ceremony and explains the premonition brown had not long before he was killed. Reporter more than 2,000 people bursting with energy past the Baptist Church in st. Louis. Friends, neighbors, National Leaders and family celebrated the short life of 18yearold Michael Brown with music, love and faith. There is a cry being made from the ground account not just for Michael Brown but for the Trayvon Martins for those children at sandy hook elementary school, for columbine massacre about. For the black on black crime, there is a crime being made from the ground. Red roses and a red billed cardinals cap topped browns casket. His mother bore tears. To get us together like this. Reporter family members called him mike mike and said he had a higher purpose. He even had a premonition of death, days before he died. He says ive been seeing death, ive been seeing pictures of death, i see bloody sheets hanging on the clothesline. It truly touched my heart and when i went up there, seeing mike mike, thats exactly what he was laying up under. He stated to the family that one day the world would know his name. He did not know that he was offering up a divine prophecy at the time. Attorney Benjamin Crump called for justice. He wasnt three fifths of a citizen. He was an american citizen. We will not accept three fifths justice. We will demand equal justice for Michael Brown, jr. Al sharpton called for change. We are not antipolice. We respect police. But those police that are wrong need to be dealt with just like those in our community are wrong, need to be dealt with. We have to be outraged by our disrespect for each other. Our disregard for each other. Our killing and shooting and running around guntoting each other. He warned of difficult days ahead but said ultimately there will be justice and peace. You know how this story is going to end. The first will be last. The last will be first. The lion and the lamb will lay down together, and got god will, god will, god will make a way for his children. I been to the end of the book. Justice is going to come. Justice is going to come. Justice going come. Lori jane gliha, al jazeera. Family, friends and the community of ferguson have vowed to not let the death of Michael Brown go in vain. Change must come from the use of youth of the ferguson area. Special Community Town hall being held tonight in st. Louis. And marcus murchison. I know you were joining that protest in the last couple of weeks. How has that changed your view of your community . It has changed a lot. Because those were things that i never thought i would see, especially in my short time of only being 19. As well as i never thought i would see Something Like that in the st. Louis city area. And just not even just with the death of Michael Brown, but just what what have what the Law Enforcement has been doing, as far as the tanks being advancing on Peaceful Protesters and governor jay nixon ordering the National Guard come in. It is just surreal, things i never thought i would see in my life. The Community Town meeting is being organized by kevin powell to legality young people think, hear the voices of young people. If you are going ospeak at that meeting what are you going to say . I was doing this work since i was marcuss age, 18, 19 years of age. Im proud of them using their voices and Organizational Skills to go out there and protests an injustice. A lot of people talk about the youth generation and act as if theyre not doing anything but they are doing things around the country. Ferguson is getting notice around the world. People from all around the world are calling me about the situation, you see ferguson, im very proud of what these young people are doing. I am very proud of what theyre doing, once its no longer trendy to talk about what happens in ferguson, this is a modern day selma, alabama. Michael brown is the modern day emma till and people are taking notice of that. Thank you for joining us. California governor jerry brown declared a state of emergency today, after a 6. 0 magnitude earthquake rocked Northern California sunday, the strongest earthquake to strike the state in 25 years. Regular tagged buildings, too dangerous for use, more than 100 suffered moderate damage. Hospital Officials Say more than 200 people were injured at least six still listed in critical condition. Economic losses from the earthquake, much of it in wine are estimated at roughly 4 billion. Are here in napas wine country, people are picking up the pieces and assessing the damage. At three 20 sunday morning 3 20 sunday morning californians were woke wn a violent jolt. In 20 seconds the quake had destroyed nearly 100 buildings started several fires and ruptured gas lines. Thankfully no deaths but dozens of injuries. Its been a very busy 30 hours for emergency response. Fire service ran over 360 calls during that first 30 hours. 92 of those were gasrelated. The smell of gas. 50 power lines down or power line issues. And we had 50 fires. The most significant was the Mobile Home Park up north. Where four of those mobile homes were completely destroyed. One of the worsthit communities was a small Mobile Home Park in napa valley, home to about 300 people. It is a community not dissimilar to a lot of communities in company. There are folks on one side, the haves and the other fixed images, that you think of napa and the iconic area. This is part of the california community. Lieutenant governor gavin newsom came to assess the damage. You think thats fine, think about a mobile home let alone any foam holm without a foundation, these are on cinder blocks, they moved significantly and looks like someone just a dozen people came in and ransacked. Many of the residents here are senior citizens. The hornsbys are among them. Barbara survived by being under a bookcase. Fortunately we have just paper back booker, so i came out without much of a scratch. It was very hard to clear a path but he rescued me got me up and out. Other long time residents say they have never felt anything like this. I thought this was the big one. I thought roof was going to collapse, this is it because i never felt anything shake so violently in my life. It was very terrifying. We have lived through a few earthquakes in california and 55 years ive never felt anything so terrifying. As minor yach shocks continue to ripple through Northern California, initial estimates have already topped over 1 billion. People in california were given ten seconds advance notice thanks oan Early Warning system. Dr. Peggy helwig is with us. Dr. Helwi grveg, how might this lwig, how will that help you in the future . If you are closer, it only allows you a couple of seconds. But its only taking you a couple of seconds to get under the desk and hold on. Thats for personal safety part of it. The other part of it is the automated response. For example, as soon as this information comes, computers can start slowing down trains. Or generators can be started in hospitals so that when the power fails, the people in the emergency room and the intensive care still have power and still are on all of their life support systems. So in that case, a second, two seconds is plenty of time to actually do something. Its important, our partners are there to look at the warning, and decide in the case of their operations, what kinds of things could happen in as few as one or two seconds, that would make their operations be safer in case of an earthquake, that would make them have less damage, perhaps fewer deaths or injured, and to be able to be more resilient and recover more quickly in case of an earthquake. Dr. Peggy helwig with the berkeley size monthly o seismological institute. Thank you. Corresponds michael okwu reports, city leaders have tapped a veteran seismologist to tap the next big one. I felt like a giant maybe picked up my house and ripped it out of the earth and started shaking it. In the predawn hours of january 17th, 1994, susan and her family woke up to a nightmare. A large earthquake more powerful than any the Southern California native had ever experienced. My husband grabbed my daughter. She was 74 years old. And i grabbed my twoyearold and we went to leave the house and we tried to get out of the front door but so much had fallen that we couldnt escape. Reporter when the shaking stopped, 57 people were dead. Property damages exceeded 20 billion, making the northridge earthquake one of the deadliest and most expensive in u. S. History. You can see we had to take it back down to the very frame of the house. Reporter aslins family lost their dream home and spent the next six months living in the driveway. Some others fared worse including one man who committed suicide. 20 years on, memories of northridge still haunt angelinos. Yet Los Angeles County remains ill prepared for an even bigger quake thats bound to strike. The potential for devastation massive given the multiple fall lines that carve the region. Their main concern older buildings not yet upgraded to withstand a violent quake. We definitely expect to see some of these nonductile concrete buildings just collapse. Tom heaton is the director of the Earthquake Engineering Research laboratory at the California Institute of technology. If it was in the daytime, people would be in their offices, and not many would survive that situation. There are literally hundreds of buildings out there that could collapse in that case. Reporter earlier this year, heaton coauthored a study that used computer models to simulate how buildings would perform in moderate to very strong seismic ground motions. Buildings which have just nonductile concrete columns and no walls at all, and believe me, there are plenty of them, those are the ones that were especially worried about. Weve known for decades that these buildings need to be retrofitted, retired. Finding the political will to do something about it is much more difficult. Reporter by some estimates, a strong earthquake could level between six to 10,000 softstory structures alone, threatening tens of thousands of people. And were not just talking about ordinary residential and office buildings. Dozens of l. A. s most prominent structures are in jeopardy. From the icons off hollywood boulevard to some of the towers that line the miracle mile. After years of inertia city officials are finally waking up. Thanks to a surge of media attention, and troubling new research that was released around the 20th anniversary of northridge. In january, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti tapped veteran Seismologist Lucy Jones to prepare americas second largest city for the next big one. What are the priorities . You cant run a city or a business without water. Its potentially our most vulnerable infrastructure. Loss of its pretty bad. Joan says the four main aqueducts cross a major fault line and are likely to break in a large quake. It could take between 12 and 18 months to repair the aqueducts leaving millions of angelinos, in back in time. If you look, the level of activity in 1905 after the 1906 earthquake. To be clear about this youre saying an earthquake in Southern California today could destroy the economy . It could, yes. So far that we would lose more than half our population. If we dont have water here for six months how long are you willing to stay when you havent had a shower . Earthquake, earthquake. Reporter whenever the next big one strikes, tom heaton wants to give people a head start. Hes pushing for more funding to expand an Early Warning system that would alert people in Los Angeles County to a coming earthquake. Before they felt it. Earthquake, earthquake. Thats the good news. Bad news, earthquakes happen very quickly so were only talking about seconds to tens of seconds here. I keep shoes by my bed now. I dont want to have to walk over glass like i did and take chances. As susan aslin tells it, there was no time to lose. With their home crumbling around them her family somehow found a path to safety. Reporter what is it like to come back to this home . It brings back a lot of memories. Reporter they have since moved to a new neighborhood that aslin says is less vulnerable to earthquakes. Although she has more peace of mind she will never forget the lessons of nort northridge. Michael okwu, al jazeera, california. Can anything be done to stop the advance of i. S . Then later in the show, the battle for aleppo, an exclusive firsthand look of the fighting and syrias new weapon of mass destruction. Fault lines labor day marathon the true cost of cheap labor nothing can be worse than this people burnt to ash. Horrendous conditions. Traffic labor on us bases. Management stealing wages. Exploited children put to work. How many of you get up at 4 or 5 oclock in the morning to go out to the fields . Dont miss our Award Winning series fault lines labor day marathon only on Al Jazeera America now available, the new al jazeea america mobile news app. Get our exclusive in depth, reporting when you want it. A global perspective wherever you are. The major headlines in context. Mashable says. Youll never miss the latest news they will continue looking for survivors. The potential for Energy Production is huge. No noise, no clutter, just real reporting. The new Al Jazeera America mobile app, available for your apple and android mobile device. Download it now welcome back. While international corc condemnation mounts against the Islamic State, a caliphate across syria and iraq. It made more important gains this week when it seized a key syrian air base. This amateur video shows the aftermath of that fierce battle for control of the strategic ally important tab qa air base. 340 i. S. Fighters were killed in the battle. Along with about soldiers. If the numbers were correct, this would be the deadliest confrontation between the two sides since the start of the war. Syrian television reported the base had been evacuated and the base was still carrying out air strikes against the group. Using drones and attack aircraft, the u. S. Continued attacks in northern iraq, around the kurdish region erbil. As the United States was considering extending those strikes into syria. Were considering what needs to eliminate that threat and were not going to be restricted by borders. Weve shown time and again if the there is counteractions, well not respect borders for that strike. We are ready to cooperate and coordinate with regional countries and the International Community in fighting terrorism following the resolution of the security council. We welcome everybody. Reporter in iraq too the fight against i. S. Is proving challenging. Claiming responsibility for a suicide bombing at a shia mosque that killed at least seven people as well as other attacks at kirk u. C. And erbil. , around the cities of zumar. In terms of the deputy he areas, we are gaining control of some of those areas, outside much peshmerga control, god willing we will take them over very soon. Are u. S. Air strikes enough to combat the threat of Islamic State fighters . Mark kimmet, we have seen the group develop and improve both in resources and strategically very, very quickly. We have been told by the white house that the president has not yet made a decision about what he intends to do. Is there any doubt in your mind that he will in fact order more air strikes, perhaps even air strikes into their syrian stronghold . I think theres a lot of doubt that this president will do that. He is looking and listening to the American People and american polls and more concerned about votes than he is about the National Security of this country. So he may feel that if as long as the American People arent giving him the authority and the votes in order to do this, he might actually pull back the way he did in syria with the initial callingoff of the syrian air strikes. One thing he has been very clear about is there will be no american boots on the ground. He has said that repeatedly, his advisors have said that repeatedly. Is it enough to engage in american air strikes only if thats a condition. It will not be enough to destroy the capabilities of the Islamic State. This can be to some extent managed by air strikes but to completely eliminate that you not only have to use the military arm but you also have to dig down to the reason the Islamic State exists in the first place. That goes well beyond the military, it goes to the context of what is needing these types of groups inside the middle east. We might find ourselves in a perverse kind of way in a de facto way fighting on the same side as Bashar Alassad. How do we get around that because the u. S. Is very clear about its view of assad and it handy changed. Im not sure by fighting the Islamic State that we are necessarily supporting assad. There is a third player in this, the militants fighting assad as well. To my way of thinking, the way we can defeat the Islamic State forces inside of syria but also keep pressure on assad is to support the vetted rebels they have inside of syria. General mark kimmet thank you so much for joining us. Up next, tonight, we head back to ferguson, missouri and the struggle to better ones life. I was very excited especially nofg that i could take advantage of the situation for him to go out there to take the better education. A broken School System and little hope for opportunity. Why Community Leaders are warning, there will be a repeat of Michael Brown if nothing is done. Al Jazeera America presents. Labor day marathons our government is allowing an invasion our most acclaimed series. Back to back to back. Toughest place. I call that a lot of hard work for next to nothing the system. A Justice System run by human beings can run off the rails and borderland. A lot aof people havent got a clue what goes on near the border Al Jazeera America presents labor day marathons this is not over. AlJazeera America presents the killing of journalist is a question directed to society they are impartial. If you wanted to be a good journalist in iraq, you have to risk your life. They observe. And report. Kidnapping is a very real problem. Journalists on the front lines. Sometimes that means risking death getting the story, no matter what it takes thats what the forth estate is all about. Thats why im risking my life. Killing the messenger on Al Jazeera America now a snapshot of stories making headlines on america tonight. Critically acclaimed actor and director Richard Attenborough has died. Best known taking the best director observation for the movie gandhi. Attenborough was 90 years old. Peter thee oh collins was released, a week after james foley was beheaded. Many in droit say access to water is a human right. The anguish unleashed in ferguson, missouri, goes beyond Michael Brown. Its police department, its schools were failing the community before brown was shot. Sarah hoye our america tonight correspondent is there. The mornings, regular mornings like every other household. We get up, we get dressed, we eat breakfast. I put your books in your book bag. We check our book bags make sure we have all our School Supplies and were out the door. The only differential is the school is about 35 minutes away. That 35 minutes makes all the difference to Marcia Pearson. It took a lawsuit but now her first grader darren can escape the School District and go to one where she feels gives him a first rate education. You could see the joy coming out of him. Everybody was so excited to see him. Darrens home district, the incorporated dischoo normandy School District, finally lost its accreditation. But darrens mother took advantage of an unusual missouri law, if your School District is failing, can you transfer to another you can transfer to another School District and the School District has to pick up the tap. I was very excited for him to take advantage of that since the School District had lost its accreditation. She says the differences were dramatic. Everybody should receive a good education. Not because of your social or economic background none of that should matter. But coming up in the School System with my son it does matter. You know its not fair and not right. Theyre just children. But missouri transfer law is controversial with unintended consequences. Hundreds of normandy students were leaving the district. They were stuck with paying the tab. The district was on the verge of bankruptcy. The Normandy School board voted at the end of the month not to pay the bill. I was the pivotal vote to say no. We were three four three against and i said no. My vote was an opportunity for me to send a clear message back to the legislators to show them what they had created, a system that was not sustainable. They had to understand what they were doing to the normandy School District. Reporter how big a deal was it to graduate from the normandy School District . It was a huge deal. Understood that the doors to his high school might close before he had a chance to graduate. He became a spokesman for his senior class. Going in front of legislature, the mayor, and the governor to plead for school to remain open. No one really had an actual answer. You can say its because of the transfer law, well, why has that law been put into place for the normandy School District . Because we lost accreditation. Why did we lose accreditation . We never knew, couldnt tell our parents. Our parents, never knew, what did they do . Start of pulling their children out of normandy. It was a circle, a vicious circle. Special accreditation would have the effect of staunching the flow of transfers. For those that wanted to leave it meant that the escape route was closed. Chris mccast ce caskell is head of the school board. I dont think anyone set out to deny transfer rights or any way mitigate parents opportunity to make choices. The problem is you cant do that while also serving the 80 of the children who chose not to leave. Clearly, this law, this tuition calculation, is unsustainable. Any district in the state that ends up in the situation where the children are transferring out, will ultimately go bankrupt. Reporter desperate to keep her son in the school outside the district, Marcia Pearson joined the lawsuit to fight the action. In august, st. Louis county judge ruled the school had to let the children at least those in the lawsuit to transfer. Thank god i am relieved. It is the pressure, has been lifted off of me. I mean literally, the other school he was in for about five days i literally thought i was a teacher at night. I was the math teacher i was the writing teacher i was the reading teacher at night. Reporter in the end, the normandy district did close one school but thanks to community pressure, smith School Stayed open. This year, he and Michael Brown crossed the stage in their caps and gowns. I went to show my respect and get out and see you know us as a Community Coming together. And i just felt like i had to go. And it was unfortunate that you know, it was so much anger and so much tension. I got an extraways basket. What about an underbed storage caddy drawer . The 19yearold left for the university of missouri, st. Louis, to start his freshman year where he plans to major in theater. Its a major feat for a kid from the wrong side of the tracks in st. Louis. His class in Normandy High School wont get that chance. Something happening to someone right before their life actually begins it kind of breaks you down as a person. Reporter as for the normandy School District they will now begin the process of trying to reinvent themselves under state supervision but until that happens Marcia Pearson doesnt want her son to be part of an educational experiment. I understand that they are trying to rebuild the district to make it better so that we have better schools in our neighborhood. He wants to go back to school there. But until you get to that point do not try to force children that want a better education to a mediocre education, because the time its going to take you to bid on it is the time that my son is going to be in school. Can i not get his years back. Ic not get his years back. Its a small victory for now. But force those left behind in the normandy district, the future is uncertain. America tonights sarah hoye joins me now. It appears the problems go beyond the police department. Thats exactly right. It is a microcosm for those bigger issues. The neighborhood where the School District is, youre talking about 50 graduation rate, low test scores, 90 black neighborhood, poor youre talking almost 100 people receiving free lunch or reduced lunch, there are a lot of problems wrapped up into that socioeconomic neighborhood there and how many problems stem from the fact that the city council there is largely white . Thats the thing. People are talking about it. But is it really the City Council Vote . Is it really the city council . Because who is going to vote to put those people there . You have those issues and if people have to work, if people have to be two places at one time, voting is not their highest priority. America tonights sarah hoye, thank you very much. Syrias bloody civil war, some of the fiercest battles are being fought on the streets of aleppo. Those fighting to save the civilian caught in the middle. On techknow. So, this is the smart home. Saving the environment the start point for energy efficiency, is to work with the sun. Saving you money we harvest a lot of free energy and so were completely off grid here how many of the appliances were almost a little too smart for us . Techknow every saturday, go where science, meets humanity. This is some of the best driving ive ever done, even though i cant see. Techknow were here in the vortex. Only on Al Jazeera America why more women are getting in for the fun. Im ali velshi for antonio mora, see you at the top of the hour. The civilians in syria are bearing the brunt of the violence. Since the war began, over 180,000 have been killed. 6. 5 million displaced and over 3 million have fled the country. Now, in a bid to retake aleppo, syrias largest city, the regime of Bashar Alassad is ramping up aerial bombardment using a frightening weapon, the barrel bomb. In footage aired for the first time we take you inside the city of aleppo and take to you a group helping civilians caught in the cross fire. The helicopter circles slowly beyond the range of any guns. Suddenly a black dot drops from its belly tumbling towards the city below then the explosion. For a small group of volunteers in rebelheld aleppo that sound means their workday has just begun. They call themselves the Civil Defense force or cdf. Their selfappointed mission, to help victims of Bashar Alassads barrel bombs. Their commander is khalid raiga. Made out of explosives packed into a barrel, a cheap ied has been dropped on aleppo in recent months. Two barrel bombs have just exploded in this residential neighborhood. The blast concentrated in narrow alleyways are devastating. The volunteers manage to pull some survivors from the rubble. For this 12yearold boy its too late. All the team can do is offer him some dignity in death. Translator we moved him but we couldnt get him to the hospital. His injuries were too critical. His heart was injured. This is the blood of a child. Reporter the remains of those killed, every last body part, are carefully collected so that the victims can be given a proper burial. As residents dig out from the aftermast of the attack long time cdf member ahmed al najad takes. In his battle to retake the strategic city of aleppo, hundreds of barrel bombs are dropped in the last few months. The physical destruction and psychological terror inflicted 50 bombs has driven tens of thousands of civilians to flee the area. A tactic many analysts say is deliberate. The population of rebel held aleppo, once in the millions, has been reduced to just a few hundred thousand. The barrel bombs have killed over 2,000 civilians in aleppo alone this year. In february, the u. N. Passed a resolution condemning their use. The Syrian Affairs responded by doubling the number dropped, according to a Human Rights Watch analysis. In the midst of this battle for aleppo, what khalid and his team are trying to do save those caught in the cross fire. A simple thing, so hard to do. We have one goal to rescue the souls of humanity, the souls of people. It hassing in to do with bashar or anything. The goal is to rescue the nent incident wh neninnocent who have nothing too with the war. One day the regime dropped five barrel bombs at once. There is the ability to focus but not always because the number of emergencies we see is so great. Reporter during the rare times the skies fall silence, the cdf tries their best to restore the small signs of normal life to aleppo. Every few days they fill up their fire truck and deliver water to residents who have not fled. The water has been cut or for a month, month and a half. We dont have any water. The Civil Defense force gives us some water. God bless them. Reporter in between missions, the team returns to headquarters. To restock food and medical supplies. And to try to take a break from the war before the next barrels rain down more death and destruction. Khalid was a law student before becoming the teams commander. Hes proud of what those under his command, many only teenagers have accomplished. Translator we have lots of experience now because we have seen so much and suffered so much. Theres even Competition Among the teams. They compete amongst each other over who is going to rescue someone first, who is going to bring people out that are alive, that are innocent. Reporter ahmed nicknamed the tall one defected from the uniquely to join the cdf. During the current situation, credit the are Administration Needs us more than we need to smoke shisha ordinary see a ballgame or see girls. Reporter the intensity of their Daily Missions and constant view of death, has made this rag tag band closer than family. While the fellowship allows them briefly to escape the situation, the advancing war is never far away. Ultimately, the threat of death seems to have little effect on khalid and his team. I didnt start work like this to leave it. Even though we lost a great deal, friends, acquaintances, family, we are staying. Because our work is humanitarian. Rivetting and dramatic images out of aleppo, syria. We are joined by carsten stormer. Youve been in and out of aleppo. How difficult is it to work there . Its gotten more difficult, i got back end of june of this year and it was difficult, first of all because you have always the risk of air attacks. You have the snipers in aleppo, you have barrel bombs, you got artillery you got shelling. But for us journalists i think biggest threat at the moment is getting kidnapped. Running into a checkpoint of i. S. I. S, or i. S, running into a checkpoint of bandits being sold to i. S. How can you protect ur yoursf from kidnappers . You cannot. You have to trust a network you have established over the years in syria. I know james foley whose murder we saw on tape last week, who was one of your friends and obviously a colleague of yours, knowing what happened to james and people still being held by i. S, in aleppo do people talk about that, about kidnapping, are syrians subjected to the same kind of kidnapping threat as western journalists . Good not to the kidnapping threat in itself but of course syrians are constantly under the threat of i. S. You can see crucifixions in rakka on a pretty regular basis, you have executions on a regular basis, so syrians of course are even more threatened by i. S. Than international journalists. It may be too soon after the death of many james foley to ask you this question but have you thought about going back or not going back . Yes. Its out of the question that i wont go back. I dont know when, but i will certainly go back, as soon as the situation permits it. Again at the moment it is rather difficult again because i. S. I. S. Is pushing again towards aleppo. It has taken numerous towns in the aleppo country side. So at the moment i guess its a little bit too risky to travel too aleppo. But theres no doubt, i will go back. Help us, and our audience, understand what it is that drives a journalist like you to go into a place where you know the risks are all too real . Over 190,000 people have been killed which was estimated by the u. N. A couple of days ago. And there are hardly any journalists there. Someone has to tell the story. Photojournalist carsten stormer, thank you for your work. Youre welcome. Well show you how some an ridg aborigines are getting an idea of their ancestors art. Consider this the news of the day plus so much more. We begin with the growing controversy. Answers to the questions no one else will ask. Real perspective, consider this on Al Jazeera America in northern australia, aboriginal rock art up to 20,000 years old, is being rediscovered. To show the ancient art to the descendants of those who created it. Is it important for you to come back here . Yeah, it is. Why . Because my dad and my grandfather used to roam around this area and lived here when my father was a little boy. No one now lives in this remote part of arnumland. But now theyre coming back. Announcing arrival through call to their ancestors spirits. Your friend has been here before, see . Thats how very special for me to come. Reporter the focus of this trip is to look for ancient rock art. In 1967, an anthropological exhibition discovered ancient rock art. But the trip wasnt repeated due to the difficulty of the trip. Now with helicopters, its being repeated, to see what stories they can are read into the art they can find. Because as much as a trip this is an ancient one. For decades, to take nomadic aborigines, breaking ties with their heritage has done little to pull many out of poverty and independence and some think its been part of the problem. Sometimes when people visit their land sometimes for the first time it gives them a great sense of belonging and identity and i think that really helps with their life in general. Reporter this expedition will last two weeks. It is hoped that more art will be found but its important that those looking will find links with their past and with a better look towards their future, andrew thomas, al jazeera, armunland. Thats it for us. Something is killing marine life in Southern California. Theyre in a race against time. Michael okwu tracks down killer living around californias central coast. And remember if you would like to comment on any of the stories youve seen tonight log on to our website, aljazeera. Com americatonight and enjoy the conversation on our twitter or facebook page. Good night and well have more of america tonight, tomorrow. Al Jazeera America presents im a big girl now. I know what i want, i know what i have to do to get it. 15 stories one incredible journey edge of eighteen premiers september 7th only on Al Jazeera America the Islamic State group seizes an air base in syria, despite the air strikes against them. How likely is statehood for is. Leading economist mohammad alariane. Im ali velshi in for antonio mora. Those stories and more ahead. This is consider this. U. N. Says the Islamic State group committed crimes against